


Yet another version

by nothing_much



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alpha Peter Hale, Alternate Universe - Canon, Beta Derek Hale, Bonding, F/M, Gerald Argent mentioned, Good Alpha Peter Hale, Good Peter Hale, Kate Argent mentioned - Freeform, Lost Years, M/M, Minor Character Death, Pack Dynamics, Scott McCall is not a good friend here, Victoria Argent Mentioned - Freeform, creating pack, deaton is bad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-25
Updated: 2021-02-25
Packaged: 2021-03-16 18:53:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,771
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29705025
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nothing_much/pseuds/nothing_much
Summary: As the title says, this is yet another version of how it all started. Mostly out of Peter Hale's POV, he isn’t crazy. Vengeful and murderous, but not crazy._
Relationships: Derek Hale & Peter Hale & Lydia Martin & Jackson Whittemore, Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski, Lydia Martin/Stiles Stilinski, Peter Hale & Stiles Stilinski
Comments: 1
Kudos: 107





	Yet another version

**Author's Note:**

> Ops!

He started to realise that he wasn’t in a dream about the same time he realised that what he tasted really was blood. Human blood at that. So something had happened to him that was obvious. He wasn’t home, and he remembered home being burned down. Remembered the screams and the agony. He could still feel the stretch of scars in his face, but couldn’t smell any smoke. 

He was obviously not in hospital. He was in the middle of the preserve. That much he knew. He knew his woods. So, priority number one. What was going on? Number two, clean up, and well. He smirked to himself. Maybe he shouldn’t really do any kind of prioritising before he’d gotten dressed, had something to eat and got caught up with everything. 

He started to move towards the high school area. The vault there and the boys locker room would do nice for a shower. There was at least his own to go bag, and they usually stored some cans and stuff in there so he could eat. So, the priorities were to eat, clean, rest, and then figure out what was going on. 

Because something was definitely going on. There was a void where his pack bonds used to be. as he walked he tried to find something. There was a thin thread, like an echo to someone he recognised. And there was another very thin thread to someone he didn’t. But that was it. Nothing else. It hurt.

The shower was heaven. He didn’t even want to see what the water brought down the drain. He smelled something awful, and it was like he’d froliced in the woods for ages. had he been living feral in the woods? Anyway, It seemed that he, luckily, didn’t have any clothes to dispose of. 

He found his way down to the vault without problems. There was a thick layer of dust spread over everything. He found his bag, and got dressed, he found and took the old phone out of the bag and plugged it in. As he waited for it to start up he found some cans with cold, but ready to eat food. He used a claw to open the first. The phone pinged to life, and he started it. He had to redo the settings, and when the setting for automatic time zone came up, and it chose a month and a year so far from his comprehension he just looked at it in shock.

“This can’t be right,” he muttered to himself. And suddenly he was so very, very tired again. his legs gave in, and he slid down on the floor. “Six years” he had to say it out loud. If the phone was trying to set the correct year, he’d been out of it for six years. 

He stayed in the vault for two days, sleeping and eating. Trying to regain strength and get his head in gear. When he felt sure that it was dark, according to his useless phone (that only could show him the time of day and year, and was asking for a sim, or a password to do anything else), he left the rooms with his bag, which he had restocked with things from the other very dusty to go bags, only two of the original fourteen gone. He’d taken enough cash to afford a room in a hotel, preferably, for starters. 

He started with housing, and got himself a decent if not smelly room, in a motel. He then went to the closest still open store, and bought himself what he needed for now. Some snacks, fruits and toiletries. As he came closer to check out he noticed that they sold disposable phones, with surf. He decided to get one.

He paid and got back to his room bringing some take away pizza to the room. As soon as he got in the room he picked up a slice and his phone. It took a while to get used to not having to press actual keys, but he got there. He googled himself first. 

“Oh,” he said it out loud. He read the sad saga of himself.His nurse was missing. It mentioned Derek and Laura. He could only feel one familiar bond. It was bad enough not knowing who the other bond belonged to, but he seemed to only have one relative left. They used to be so many. He googled Hale and came up with a recent article about Laura Hale being found in two pieces in the preserve. It ticked something familiar in his mind. He recognised it somehow. He dreaded that he may be the reason for her being gone. 

Derek was mentioned. The thread must be Derek. He wondered if Derek was his Alpha. There was something wrong with that. On a whim he walked up to the bathroom mirror and flashed his eyes. Hrm. Red. He was the Alpha, which meant he must have killed Laura since she was Alpha heir. And the Alpha spark probably would go to Derek if a hunter killed her. It was bad. Killing one of your own pack. Really bad. 

Derek, if it was Derek would never forgive him for killing his sister. Well, whoever it was. He wasn’t getting forgiveness. Even if he was totally out of it. He wondered what had happened. And how he suddenly was very obviously out of a coma, he’d been in for six years. 

Well time for action. He knew enough of what had happened and who was responsible. He remembered them outside. He remembered the taunting. He remembered the people tried to google them. He found the henchmen, and he found that there were Argents in the area. He sat down to try to decide on a plan. How to continue. 

First of all. If he was an Alpha, and he was. He felt two bonds, weak as they were, he had a pack. Even if they really needed to bond. He could do with their help, and yes. He felt the need for another pack mate, three was the magic number of betas to make the Alpha stable. He should get to know his betas. 

Second of all. He needed to know where the people who’d done this to him was. And he needed revenge. He needed revenge for himself, for his family, and for Derek. He’d heard what that bitch had said about Derek and what she’d done to and with him. 

He decided to lay low until nightfall and then call for his beta. He supposed the blood he’d tasted when he ‘woke up’ was from the second bond, and his beta. He pondered for a while who it could be, but decided to rest.

While rest came, so did memories. None of them were any good.

He got up to shower. The shower was probably the one place where his mind was at rest and worked at its best. He decided to go for dinner before he went to ‘check up on’ the people he knew were still in Beacon Hills. 

*

Well, that had escalated quickly and now he’d killed one of the henchmen. He’d recognised Peter at first sight and started screaming profanities and threatening him with his connections. Making Peter going from plotting a long term ruin your life revenge kind to immediate death kind. And not a nice kind of death. He was lucky he could get into his hotel room without being seen. He found himself in the shower again. Clothes and all. Trying to find his thoughts. 

So, he remembered that he’d been calling out his betas while the busdriver had riled him up. He hoped that they wouldn’t get in trouble for what he’d done. He knew there would be no real evidence on the bus from him, he’d gone into some kind of Alpha shift. That meant no fingerprints, no human DNA. They would probably blame some big animal like a mountain lion. It would be in his best interest to get one to roam the area. 

A project for tomorrow. For now, get clean, and get some rest. He spent the rest of the night trying to get the voices in his head to quiet down. They did but it took until dawn. And it was exhausting. He couldn’t even get out of bed until late noon. He spent the hour before to google he found that, that was the better search engine. However there where a couple of good articles about the murder online. And he was right, they did blame a mountain lion. 

He could feel the anxiety from his beta, somehow they connected a little. The thread was stronger. Still the bond that could be Derek hadn’t changed. He knew why, somehow Derek knew whoever the new Alpha was it’d killed his sister. His Alpha. 

He decided to find his beta, he followed the bond to a house and waited outside. He spotted a tree and decided to climb it. He looked through the window and saw a young man walking around, talking animatedly with another young man. The one listening looked somehow familiar. And he supposed that he was the beta. The talking one was intriguing though. He felt like he could be pack. Like potential. He stayed and listened to them discussing last night's events, and how the animated man explained werewolf basics to the would be beta. 

As the smart one left, he optioned to follow him. He drove a blue, very old jeep, it reminded him of someone or something. They stopped outside an empty house. He watched the youth go in, and saw how the lights followed him upstairs and within minutes there was only one window with the light on. He watched and listened as the occupant didn’t really move for hours. Not until the small hours in the morning when the lights went out, and silence spread. Three hours later there was a car approaching, it proved to be the Sheriffs. That was interesting. Smart one was the Sheriff’s kid. Beta was his friend. Smart one seemed to be the one to figure out that beta was a werewolf, and how to maneuver it. Beta seemed to have his head up some girl's ass, to be blunt. 

He decided to go home, well to the hotel, and consider the situation, and try to find Derek later. 

He tried to summarize his night. Beta with a crush larger than life on a girl, best friend smarter than regular smart, who figured out his friend was a were, and had tried to help said friend. Loyalty and family were important for wolves and for the pack. They seemed important to best friend too. Beta seemed more focused on said girl. He hoped beta had some of the trades his best friend seemed to have.

He watched them, for a couple of days, as he searched for and observed one of the other henchmen. He decided to confront him in the video store he worked in, before he’d make his life into misery. 

*

Well, planning and scheming seemed unnecessary. He ended up with bloody murder, and well, bloody hands anyway. The video store guy had been worse than the busdriver. taunting him, threatening him until he flipped, alpha shifted and ended the man who’d lit the match, that set the fire that killed his family. . 

He’d somehow killed two people, well since he’d been aware. Maybe more, probably more. He couldn’t really blame the full moon, even if he wanted to. He was convinced he’d killed Laura. And probably his nurse. There was only one person left, and she was the only one he’d even considered killing from the beginning.

He checked on Derek, who he found in the burned ruins of their old home, he checked on beta who was whining about how lovely the hair of some girl was, into his phone. Smart best friend seemed to be on the other end of the phone, listening to beta, and working on his computer simultaneously.

There were Argents in the area too, he’d found them. It was Christopher, who followed the code, as much as he knew before he went. Victoria, she was as reliable as a russian sleeper agent. He hoped that Christopher was her conscience. They seemed to have spawned. There was a girl in her teens. Well Catherine Argent was not living in Beacon Hills. But she was probably on her way back, since Derek was here again, and mountain lions. He swore to be vigilant and not to let anyone enter the city limits without his knowledge. 

He was reminded and wondered about the wards, and why they hadn’t worked that night. Their emissary should have kept them up. No hunter should have managed to come even close to their house with malicious intentions. He wondered if their emissary, their druid was even alive. He’d not been in the house during the fire, and well the bitch had mentioned him during her taunts that night. Whatever, he should be dead or insane by now, since he was magic, and pack bonded. 

He decided to google the veterinarian. At least he would get to read an obituary. In the worst case an article about him being committed to Eichen house. He found none of them. Alan Deaton seemed to be a happily practicing veterinarian, which was very suspicious. As an emissary bonded to a pack, he should have perished with the bonds. He decided to go visit the good veterinarian, druid and former emissary. Peter’s own reason for surviving was probably the coma.

When he got closer to Deatons clinic, he found that the scent of beta boy was rather strong. It seemed that he was either a returning visitor to the clinic. He hadn’t seen an animal at his house though. Another reason would be that he was working with the veterinarian, or druid, or emissary. He vowed to find out. 

Smart best friend's scent seemed to linger too. He could also be a regular, but like the beta’s home, there hadn’t been a trace of a pet. So, most likely, the smart best friend was here to pick up beta boy who didn’t seem to have a car. 

There was also a faint scent of Derek on the grounds. He thought about trying to talk to Derek. He didn’t really know what to say though. He’d killed the boy’s sister, his niece and had neither reason or excuse. That he remembered anyway. He’d save the Derek card until he’d run out of excuses. 

*

His beta boy tried to call him into the high school, he didn’t really get why. It was filled with teenagers. The janitor got in the way, and suddenly he’d killed an innocent man. He had been lucky in his prior life, and kept the collateral damage to a minimum, and no deaths. Still he managed to get away without being recognised by Derek, who’d he ran into, violenly, or anyone else.

*

He spent the following nights keeping up with his nephew, and smart best friend. Not only because the beta boy was boring him to death with his hangup with the Disney princess girl, with the shiny hair and dimples he wrote weird poems about and repeated to smart best friend. Smart best friend seemed as bored with it as Peter. Beta didn’t seem like he realised that dimple girl wasn’t as attractive to smart best friend as she was to beta boy. 

He heard Derek and smart best friend warn the beta boy about the girl and her aunt who seemed to be in town.It seemed like none of them trusted princess Allison. He didn’t really get why this Allison girl seemed to have her advantages in her dimples and how gone beta boy was on her. It wasn’t until he overheard both Derek and smart best friend remind beta boy, and warn him about what had happened on his first full moon, and how dangerous this Allison girl was he realised that there maybe was something more, and he paid attention. Allison, was Allison Argent, daughter of Christopher and Victoria. He realised that in Derek’s world, history was repeating itself. 

Aunt Kate though. He realised all too late that she equalled Catherine, sister of Christopher. Responsible for burning his family alive. Allison Argent could go both ways. She didn’t seem aware of the supernatural, but she was the daughter of two very accomplished hunters. He knew that prom was coming up and there was lot’s of teenage drama around it, it seemed. He tried to stay out of everything. 

He overheard that Derek had been shot, and smart best friend had been the one to save him. by now he’d picked up that beta boy’s name was Scott. And more interesting, smart best friend’s name was Stiles. What was a Stiles? Anyway. Smart best friend Stiles was also loyal, cunning, resourceful, helpful and a true friend. Beta boy Scott was still only focused on hunter daughter Allison. He couldn’t really see what the attraction was.

He had realised he needed to go back to the hospital to find his papers, he hoped that they had them there. His plans to go there were kind of interrupted by smart best friend, as he met him there. He called for Derek, and suddenly they both knew he was alive, kicking and Alpha. He managed to get Derek to come with him, despite best friend’s efforts to ‘save’ them both. 

He contemplates and realises that he has a hard time understanding how loyal smart best fiend Stiles is, since he’d overheard not only had beta boy Scott tried to kill him a couple of times since he was bitten, but he had also left him stranded and skipped on plans more than once. And the most special occasion, the time Derek was shot. 

Bringing Derek into the know was a good idea, he listened to what Peter had to say, and even if he didn’t truly understand, he always was, and still is a good beta who always did what he was supposed to. His problem was that he could hear Derek telling him about the beta boy, going on and on, about how he’s trying to help Scott with his shift and everything werewolf, and how the boy seems to not listen.. He understands how much this Stiles, the best friend, is trying to help his friend. Stiles doesn’t really stop at helping his friend, beta boy, he seems dedicated to helping Derek too. 

What Peter doesn’t get is Derek’s obsession with beta boy. How did he not see that there only was a tiny thin bond there. But that Stiles was becoming pack, the bond firmer, stronger and truer than beta boy’s. 

Suddenly Derek is gone. He was supposed to fix something. And Peter is sure that Cathrine took him. He decides to go to Stiles for help. Well long story short, Stiles helps him, and Derek. Beta boy is none the wiser, and just as self involved and focused on his Argent as before. 

*

The night when it all goes down, Peter isn’t ready. He knows that Derek doesn’t really understand him, and he knows that smart best friend is loyal to the beta boy, who’s girlfriend is an Argent. His odds of surviving are not good. He’d meet the local Banshee earlier and put some things in place as insurance. Still he’d prefer not having to use them. 

He should have expected it all to blow up where it started. The Hale mansion, or ruins as it was. The Argent clan was there. Derek, and beta boy. He could hear smart best friend coming closer with banshee girl and another boy. 

He had his moment, saw Christopher and his daughter understand what Catherine had done, The hunters left her with Peter and Derek. Kate got her comeuppance. Peter got to rip her throat out. Something settled in his mind. He looked around at the pack gathered in front of him. There may only be two werewolves and a Banshee, and some humans. He was still angry though. Especially since beta boy seemed to want to run after his leaving hunter girlfriend.

Smart best friend Stiles, and the friend he brought had some molotov cocktails, he could smell them. He turned to them.

“Are you going to use those?” he asked with a hint of curiosity. 

“Only if you make me” smart best friend said without a stutter. Peter regretted not biting him in the hospital when they’d run into each other.

“I’m done killing, if you are” Peter told him. The boy nodded. Peter turned to Derek and beta boy. “You two. get it together” he told them. Beta boy looked confused and Derek looked like he didn’t know what Peter was talking about.

“Pack, boys. Tell me about your pack?” He asked them to make things for them, what he was talking about. Peter looked exasperated when they still looked like they didn’t even want to know.

“So, do you have pack, you don’t seem to want me as your Alpha, how are you going to solve it? By killing me? If so, do it now? Otherwise, just so you know. I’m going to be in town for a while” he told them.

Smart best friend was the only one who got what was going on. 

“You’re leaving?” he asked. “They’re both becoming omega without an Alpha” he continued to accuse Peter. 

“That’s their problem” Peter shrugged at him, “They both told me that they didn’t want me anywhere close to them, or town. So I’m doing them a favour and leaving, in a couple of days” 

Smart best friend was the only one who looked like that was bad news. He turned to Derek and his friend looking quite desperate, and wheezed… Really wheezed.

“You can’t let him leave, you need an Alpha, or the Argents are going to kill you. Yes, especially because you want to be with his daughter. You are never going to be able to be with Allison if you’re an omega. And you Derek, do you want to be hunted all your life?” It was like he was trying to talk to his friend and Derek without Peter hearing. Silly boy.

He shrugged and left the teens and Derek in the woods.

*

He was on his way to clear out of town when Stiles and Derek caught up with him. He had just purchased a car and parked it at the high school. He planned to empty the vault of the things he needed during the night and then leave town. He was considering San Francisco, or Seattle. 

As it was, his plans were disrupted, and he was persuaded to stay in town, at least for a while. Stiles and Derek thought there was something supernatural killing people still in town. Derek also told Peter that Stiles had talked him into trying for pack with Peter. Not submit yet, but while they looked for this supernatural bad guy, or gal, try being pack. 

It proved to be a kanima. Not any kanima. But one Peter had bitten, during the blank period in his life. The reason there was no bond between any of them, was that while werewolves had packs, kanimas had masters. 

The first master turned up dead, right before the big school lacrosse game. In which both Scott and Stiles played. Peter and Derek watched Stiles play the match of his life. After which he totally disappeared, at the same time they realised that Jackson was the kanima, as he tried to end it himself. Things were busy. 

A couple of hours later they had somehow saved Jackson, and Peter had pack, however small, and Derek was still undecided. Scott had left with the Argents. Derek was in some kind of trauma, since Scott had paralyzed him and tried to blackmail Peter to bite the oldest Argent. Peter had killed him instead. Scott went off his rocks, and left with Allison and Chris, none of them seem impressed.

The youngest wolf hadn’t even looked his best friend’s way. The scent coming from Stiles was concerning. He stank of the oldest Argent, fear, pain and most concerning, his own blood. You didn’t even have to watch that closely to see that he was in severe pain. Derek sent Jackson and banshee girl Lydia home before they both turned to Stiles. Who’d managed to get his jeep started, and driven home. 

They caught up with the boy outside his house. He sat in his jeep, and it seemed like he couldn’t get out of it. They carefully walked closer to him.

“Stiles?” Peter asked. 

“Are you okay?” Derek continued. Stiles didn’t move. They moved slow, and carefully opened the car door. Stiles' heart was beating and he was breathing. But he seemed to be unconscious. Peter carefully touched the boy and he stirred. 

“whaaa..” he muttered to Peter and Derek’s relief.

“Stiles, how are you feeling? Do you need to go to a hospital?” Peter asked quietly and touched Stiles’ forehead. 

“It hurts” Stiles answered, “Maybe help me get inside?” he asked them. “No, hospital, I don’t want my dad to know”.

They all but carried him inside and put him on the couch, where they let him lay down. Derek went into the kitchen to get some water and a cloth, to wash Stiles’ face. He had a large black eye and a split lip. Peter checked his limbs, which seemed not to be broken, and then he lifted Stiles into a sitting position, and lifted his T-shirt, to inspect his back, which was covered with blood and whiplashes, and his front, which was black and blue. There were a couple of burn marks on him too. He estimated that his ribs were bruised, but not broken.

Peter ground his teeth, and that made Derek pay attention to his administrations and look at what Peter was looking at. Derek caught his breath and whined. They looked at each other.

“I’ll do pain-drain, you go find a first aid kit” Peter told Derek who hurried upstairs to find the bathroom. Peter reached for skin and started to pull the pain from the boy. He grimaced as the pain hit him. He tried to concentrate on what he was doing, and listen for Derek to come back down with a large white box, with a red cross on. He smirked.

“They seem to be well prepared for injuries in this household.” Derek informed him, before he handed the box over, and reached for skin. Peter went through the box, he was more used to fixing human injuries than Derek, who was now grimacing with Stiles' pain. 

They got him patched up, and Peter found some Tylenol in the box and gave Stiles some, so that the pain would be reasonable when it came back. Peter told Derek to go home, and he placed himself on the small part of the roof outside Stiles’ bedroom window. 

*

Before he met his nephew next time, he prepared to have a serious conversation. He had some things he needed them to discuss. And even if they weren’t really packmates at this point. He might as well act as if they were. Just in case. That meant he called Jackson too. 

Jackson arrived with Lydia to Peter’s flat, just minutes after Derek settled. They looked somewhat out of place, but Peter saw it as a win that they showed up at all. He brought some snacks, and offered them drinks, Lydia accepted a water bottle, and Jackson and Derek settled with tea. 

“I called you here because as it is I’m your alpha. Pack dynamics have to be discussed at a later time when the pack is settled” he started. Derek’s face was a mix of guilt and defiance. It was a quite weird look, and did strange things to his features. Lydia looked bored, and Jackson was the only one who looked interested and paid attention. “There are only us for now, even though we have another werewolf in town. He’s shacked up with Allison and the Argents. We also have a kid in the know, and there are a place for humans, I wanted your opinion on inviting Stiles to the pack” Peter told them. 

“Stilinski?” Jackson asked and Peter nodded. Jackson looked at Lydia, and they seemed to have a quiet conversation. Before Lydia spoke.

“What are your reasons beyond him knowing about werewolves and such?” she asked.

“From what I’ve seen,” Peter started to answer “he is really smart, he seems to have courage, and he is loyal, all trades I like in my pack” 

Derek nodded and Jackson looked at Lydia again. 

“Don’t get us wrong” Jackson said. “You are right about that. The reason we are somewhat hesitant has to do with him being in love with Lydia on the verge of stalking her uptil all this started” he told the Hales. 

“I think that he’s found another interest, and when we become pack, and he gets to know the real me, we can become friends” Lydia said.

“Yeah, Stilinski is okay,” Jackson said “I’m going to put it out there now though just so you know. If McCall is to join our little gang, I’m out.” he continued, and looked at Lydia who nodded.

“So, it’s ok for me to offer Stiles a place in the pack, but you don’t want his best friend to join?” Peter specified. Both Lydia and Jackson nodded. Peter looked at Derek who shrugged. Peter nodded thoughtfully. 

“May I ask you about Scott though?”.Peter said “I am curious.”

Lydia and Jackson looked at each other again. and it was Lydia who started.

“I can only tell you what I’ve seen these past weeks, and I know I behaved like a spoilt brat too” she looked at Jackson. “But from what Allison told me, and what I’ve seen and done, he lies, doesn’t respect boundaries or authority figures, and if Stiles have been quietly stalking me these past years, he never, ever stepped out of or over the line into creepy. Which Scott has done time and time again. He’s totally hung up on ‘the love of his life’ Allison, but he still saw nothing wrong with making out with me, when I was mad at Jackson” she concluded her statement. 

“He’s almost outed being a werewolf many times, even though I know Derek and Stiles tried to help him” Jackson picked up “He put Allison, Stiles and countless others in danger by not wanting to listen to anyone. He doesn’t really give a damn about anybody but himself, his own feelings and what he thinks is his right. I don’t trust him as co-captain, I don’t trust him as a werewolf and I wouldn’t trust him as neither friend nor packmate” he told them with Lydia nodding in agreement.

Peter turned to Derek.

“I totally agree with them,” Derek told them. “Stiles helped him get through everything in the beginning. He researched everything and within a couple of hours he helped McCall realise what had happened, he helped him with his shift, with his first full moon. McCall tried to kill him more than once, and he just shrugged it off. McCall screwed up getting me the bullet when I was shot, and he left Stiles and me in the water, when Matt had Jackson in kanima form, for hours. He can’t be trusted, he has no loyalty, and he couldn’t submit if his, no our lives depended on it” Derek said, it was probably the most Peter had heard him speak since the coma. 

They all looked at each other. Jackson was the on bringing up the dilemma.

“Do you think that we can get Stiles to join, without Scott?” he asked.

*

Jackson approached Stiles during the Lunch period. He sat alone with a book in the cafeteria. Scott was nowhere to be found. Lydia sat with Danny. 

“Stilinski” he said and sat down in front of said boy.

“Yo, Jackson,” Stiles said and looked around the cafeteria. “did you get lost?” he asked.

“I don’t get lost,” Jackson stated. Which seemed to make Stiles confused. “I wanted to tell you we have a pack meeting tonight at 7pm. Peter’s place. Be there” he told the boy, before he stood and walked over to join Danny and Lydia. Stiles looked confused. He looked even more confused when his phone buzzed and he saw the address Lydia had sent him. He looked around again, like he was waiting for cameras, and someone to jump up to scream that he’d been pranked. When that didn’t happen, he shrugged, ate his sandwich and continued reading.

When the blue jeep rolled up to the building Peter, and temporarily also Derek, stayed in they could both hear Stiles’ rapid heartbeat. As he approached they heard Lydia and Jackson joining him. They walked up the stairs and Derek met them in the door and showed them into the living room area. 

Stiles looked kind of confused but he sat down with them all the same. Before Peter or anyone else could say something he spoke up.

“Not that this isn’t all nice and such. But why am I here?” He asked. “Is this some kind of werewolf initiation rite and you are going to kill me and fiest on my flesh?” they all snorted. Lydia nodded solemnly.

“Yes Stiles. This is when we have a party, and drink your blood” she told him and looked at Peter expectantly. 

“No one is going to kill you, and I assure you that the offer is still there, but I accept your no when it comes to the bite” Peter started. “You’re here, because I want you in the pack.” 

Stiles looked at them all in turn. He looked unsure, and confused.

“Me?” he asked “but I’m not a werewolf, and I like being human” he continued. Jackson and Lydia turned to Peter and Derek.

“Our pack always had humans, most packs do” Derek explained. 

“But why me?” Stiles asked again “Is it because you think I can help you get Scott to join?” he looked around again.

“No, Stiles” Peter said and shook his head. “This is you, we want you to join. And only you. We are a very small pack, it’s one beta, one banshee and maybe you. Derek hasn’t decided yet, and none of us want Scott McCall to join. If that is something you can’t agree on, we are sad to see you leave” he told him. Derek squiemed.

“Two betas, if you’re joining Stiles. I’d definitely stay if you join our pack” he looked sincere. And a little guilty when he looked at Peter. “Look, I may stay anyway. But if Stiles joins, then I know that we’ll manage to get this pack to work, okay?” he told Peter hesitantly. Peter nodded and shrugged. 

“I get it” he said “Stiles, we don’t need your answer now. And whatever you decide, we won't ever ask you to break your friendship with McCall, only that you don’t share pack secrets with him” 

Stiles nodded.

“How does pack work?” he asked. Jackson and Lydia looked curious too, which made Peter decide to tell them and answer all questions they may have. He didn’t really regret it, but it was a long night. He’d seriously underestimated Stiles' curiosity and ability to superfocus when he found things interesting. But Derek seemed to thrive telling the audience of three about werewolf pack, traditions and lore. In the end Peter got up and found a tome for Stiles to borrow. Lydia looked at it with eager eyes, so he sent her home with one too. Jackson told him thank you, but no thanks. 

It wasn’t even noon before Peter’s phone buzzed with Stiles agreeing to join the pack. He smiled. Derek would stay. He had two betas, a banshee and a Stiles. It was the beginning of something great he was sure. 

The first challenge he was going to introduce to them was the enigma that was Alan Deaton. The second to find or build a pack house.

*

Peter had gathered all the evidence he could find on Deaton. He had spoken to many of his old contacts, reestablished them at the same time. And he had followed Deaton around to get the hang of what he was doing, with whom and where. Deaton had a flat over his clinic. Peter remembered that Scott McCall worked there, but the scent of him was kind of flimsy. It seemed that the soon to be omega either didn’t work there anymore, or didn’t work as much as he had before. Peter didn’t spot him once during his surveillance. 

Deaton made regular trips into the preserve. He brought bags with herbs and concoctions and came back without. Peter could smell the magic around him. Faint, but still there. Deaton was a druid, and his personal magic wasn’t strong to begin with. Peter could also smell mountain ash from within the clinic. He wondered how that had worked with Scott being a werewolf. Deaton must have known the first time he met Scott after Peter had bitten him. He’d have to ask Stiles if Scott had received any help from the former Emissary.

He realised that he had a lot of questions for Stiles and Derek, which was why he created a group chat, and asked them all if they could come by him, either together or one by one, to answer them. They all opted for a meeting. And surprisingly they told him Friday night, and to order pizza. 

Stiles told him, with flailing hands and pieces of pizza flying, until Derek abruptly took his hand, and relieved him of the pizza, that until the Derek incident he had no clue that Deaton was ‘in the know’ and that since Scott wanted to be an ordinary human, he’d probably hadn’t asked or gotten help from the man. 

Derek admitted that he knew that Laura had met up with Deaton, who’d been unhelpful. And when he arrived in town, he’d also met the druid, who’d not helped him at all. 

To this Peter hummed. Then he turned towards Lydia and Jackson. Jackson just shrugged.

“Lydia, have you ever met Deaton?” he asked. 

“I meet him regularly with Prada” she told them.

“Have you met them since you realised you were a banshee?” Peter asked.

“I met him after I manifested. He hasn’t indicated that he knows anything about the supernatural, but I have always felt weird around his counter.” she answered “Why all these questions about Deaton” 

Peter looked at them and proceeded to explain that Deaton had been the family Emissary, to which Derek was surprised. Derek explained that when a pack and the alpha that you were bonded to died, their Emissary most often died or lost it completely. Like all surviving pack members. The only reason Derek had survived was that Laura got the alpha spark, and that she made Derek pack. Peter had only survived because of the coma. 

Lydia, who had known Deaton the longest, told them that Deaton had been fine after the fire. Pradas predecessor had been sick and he had been the one to care for her, before he had to put her down. Lydia had spent many hours in the clinic days after the fire. 

Stiles confirmed that, as he had been in the station the night of the fire, and it was in the early days when Scott had started on his mission to become a veterinarian by volunteering with Deaton, and Stiles had tagged along. 

“Ok, since you told us about pack that first night, I know what an Emissary is, and I vote ours to be Lydia, but what exactly is Deaton?” Stiles asked.

“Deaton is a druid, he is all about the balance of nature, and he does magic through herbs, plants and concoctions” Peter told them. “And pack hierarchy? I have a vague idea if you want to hear?” he continued. They all nodded. “I thought that Derek would be my right hand” Derek seemed pleased, and nodded. “Lydia, would you be my Emissary, as you know it’s kind of an ambassador, and if you have a spark of magic, which you have as you’re a banshee?” he asked her. She smiled and nodded. “Jackson, main strategist?” to which said werewolf smiled and looked proud. Stiles looked at him expectantly, “Stiles would you be my researcher, and until we are settled, my left hand?” he asked. 

“What is a left hand?” Stiles asked, “you didn’t talk about that when you explained about pack”

“A left hand solves problems,” Peter said, 

“Ah,” Stiles looked happy, “in that case, yes. Problem Solver that’s me. I solve problems” they all smirked at him. Derek snorted.

“You are a problem, “ He said and winked. 

“So, now when that’s settled, we go out on the full moon and perform a ceremony at the nemeton, in the presence of the pack…” Peter petered off. “Nemeton,” he mumbled. “Deaton is doing something to, at, with or by the nemeton” he paused.

“Is he trying to claim it?” Derek asked. 

“Well let’s get into our new roles in the pack” Peter clapped his hands “Derek, introduce Lydia to the books about Emissaries we got, and tell her everything she needs to know. Put her in contact with Alpha Ito’s Emissary, she has promised to help us.” He turned to Jackson and Stiles “You two. Stiles, research, try to find out as much as you can about druids, nemeton and Deaton, Jackson, help him and then you two try to come up with a game plan to stop whatever it is he thinks he’s going to accomplish or is doing with the old stump” the last two words were said with so much care that Jackson and Stiles just stared at him.

“When you meet the nemeton, you’ll understand,” Peter told them. 

To his utter shock, and there were not a lot of things that came to a surprise to a werewolf with his nose turned on, Derek and Stiles left the meeting together, heading for a movie. Lydia smiled fondly at them when she told Peter about it being their third date, and that Stiles was almost deliriously happy. 

.*

Three weeks later Deaton was dead. Peter was content with the knowledge that the last accomplice to the murder of the Hale family was gone. 

Jackson and Stiles had worked excellently together. They had come up with four possible theories to what it could be that Deaton was up to, based on vast knowledge of the man from the research they’d done. With the help of their friend Danny they’d hacked their way into not only Deaton’s computer files, but also his phone, phone records and his bank account.. They had used both skill sets, and presented the theories ranking from most probable, to the least. They had been prepared for questions, and they even had a manilla folder for each theory holding the evidence for each. 

From the surveillance that Peter had done, they could agree on the one theory most probable. They were sure, but as it was Jackson and Stiles, their backup plans, had backup plans. Jacksons winner-instinct, and experience from sports, helped them immensely and Stiles' ADHD made him think four steps ahead with five alternatives to each step. Peter felt sure.

They settled on the theory that Deaton was trying to claim the nemeton for himself. The evidence showed that he’d sold the Mountain Ash, Wolfsbane and some other very unsavory poisons to Kate, Gerald and Victoria Argent. Most damaging was the money transfered from Kate Argent to Alan Deaton on the morning after the fire. It was a large amount, and no way it was anything but a bribe. 

Lydia had approached Christopher and Allison and made a treaty with them. She has also brought Christopher the evidence, and asked him to join them when they cornered the veterinarian by the nemeton.

He did, and they were all watching him spreading herbs and doing some kind of spell where he was chanting around what Peter had described as an ‘old stump’ of what had once been a really large trunk of a tree. When he was done they had confronted him, and he had confessed. 

Peter smirked when he thought of it. Somewhere he had seemed so sure that he was safe in front of the Argent. He was wrong. Chris had told the pack to go ahead with his blessing after the confrontation, the confession and the excuses the druid made about balance.

Stiles, Lydia and Jackson had been introduced to the concept of a darach. 

Yeah, Deaton had most definitely gone to the dark side. 

The pack ceremony two nights later had been witnessed by Christopher and a newly initiated Sheriff. 

*

Losing a family was the worst thing anyone could go through. He knew he’d never get over it, just as he knew neither Derek nor Stiles would get over their losses. Jackson and Lydia had their own issues. But they all had each other, and they could count on each other to be there, to take the time, to make time. To share and to care. 

He may have lost most of his family, but the family he had left, he appreciated, and they had both gained a small but strong and really good pack willing to learn together, work together and fight together. They could never replace what he lost. But they would add to his future. 

He wished that Derek could have been able to introduce Stiles to his sister, Derek’s mother, she would have loved him as would the rest of the family. As did he. 

He wished his sister could have met Jackson and Lydia. 

As he sat at the memorial for the family he lost, he could hear the family he gained walk up to him. He turned to look at them with pride in his heart. Derek was carrying a small rose bush to plant on the spot, Stiles brought the shovel. Jackson and Lydia held hands and they all joined him. Jackson put his arm on Peter’s shoulder, Derek started to dig, with the ‘help’ of Stiles. Lydia went around to Peter’s other side and took his hand. 

He had a good feeling about the future.

**Author's Note:**

> Ok, so there is something wrong with my keyboard, and the letter H is fighting me every single time I press it. So if there are any places missing one or there are too many somewhere. I'll fix it "tomorrow".


End file.
